MIB wrecks the caves, stabs & kills Mother, Jacob pummels MIB

As Mother and Jacob make their way back towards the caves, Jacob says that there is a storm coming. She tells him to go gets some firewood before it rains and tells him to be careful. Jacob says that he'll see her back at home and leaves, but clearly seems to Mother know they won't see each other again.

As Mother returns to the cave, she finds that it has ben ransacked, including the tapestry which is ruined. She discovers the Man In Black's Senet game on ground and removes a black and white stone from inside. As she examines the black stone, MIB plunges the dagger through her back and she falls to the ground.

MIB leans over her body and asks why she wouldn't let him leave and she says "Because I... I love you." She then says "Thank you" as she dies. He weeps over her body and then sees that Jacob has returned.

Jacob repeatedly asks MIB what he did and then leaps forward and attacks him, much like he did as a teenager. After pummeling him in the face he finally stops. We'll pick this up in the next post.

So Mother seems to have the same feeling about her death as Jacob did when Ben stabbed him. They both didn't fight their deaths and Mother even thanked MIB. Why is that? Is it just their time to move on after thousands of years of performing their job?

MIB discovers the well destroyed, his people dead & village burned

The Man In Black wakes up near the well to find that in has been filled in and partially destroyed. He is already upset when he turns and sees black smoke billowing up in the distance. He runs towards it and arrives at his people's village to discover that everyone is dead and the homes are burned.

He walks through the remains and finds his Senet game. He grasps it and holds it towards is head as we see pure rage coursing through him.

The big question is, how did Mother manage to kill all of these people and destroy the village a well without some kind of power or ability like the smoke monster has? It seems impossible that she, as a human could have caused this destruction, so how was it achieved? We may never know.

MIB is visited by Jacob, shows him magnetism at a well, tells him people are bad

When we return for Act 4 of the episode, we jump forward 30 years and we see Jacob as an adult at the caves working on a tapestry. Mother sits close by pressing something in a mortar with a pestle. She seems distant as Jacob turns to her and asks her what she thinks of his tapestry. She says that it's nice, and when he asks is she is alright, she says she's just tired.

It then cuts to a work site on another part of the island, where the other people are working on a well including the Man In Black (this is the same well that Locke fell down in season 5 to leave the island that is near the future sight of the Orchid Station). Jacob watches the site from a distance and Man In Black sees him.

Later, after the workers have gone, Jacob and MIB sit nearby playing the same Senet game from their teenage years. As the play, MIB asks Jacob if Mother knows that he visits him, and Jacob says that she never asks about him. MIB bitterly says that he's sorry he asked about her then.

He then asks Jacob why he watches his people and Jacob says that he wants to see if Mother was right about them being bad. MIB says that Mother may be insane, but she was right about the people being bad. Jacob says that they seem fine, but MIB says that's easy to say when you just watch them from a distance. He adds that after 30 years of living among them, he's learned that they are "greedy, manipulative, untrustworthy and selfish."

Jacob asks why he's with them then and MIB says they are means for him to get off of the island and they've found a way. Jacob says that is impossible because there's no way off of the island.

MIB pulls the dagger from his belt (the same one MIB gave Richard and Dogen gave Sayid) and throws it at towards the well. The dagger curves and sticks to side of the well. Jacob goes to the well and pulls the dagger from it. MIB tells him that there are smart men among his people who are curious about how thing work. He says that they have found sites all over the island where metal acts strangely and when they find these sites, they dig. He says at this site, they found something and asks Jacob to come with him.

MIB asks Jacob what he's going to do when Mother dies, and Jacob says she'll never die. MIB says that everything dies. Jacob emotionally says that he doesn't want to leave the island because it is his home. MIB replies "Well, it’s not mine."

Like so many scenes in this episode, this one is quite heavy. We see and hear about the digging of the wells, which Locke told Desmond about before pushing him down one. We see debate start about all men being bad and corruptible versus them having the potential for good (MIB's position versus Jacob's). There's certainly a lot to download and absorb.

It also seems that Mother may know that something bad is coming by the way she's acting at the caves. It's not likely that we'll ever know the full extent of the powers and abilities that the island's protectors have.

Claudia shows MIB the people he came from, tells him who he is

Jacob and Man In Black are hanging out by some trees playing the Senet game. Jacob makes a move and MIB tells him that he can't do it because it's against the rules. Jacob says that MIB made the rules though. MIB responds saying "One day, you can make up your own game and everyone else will have to follow your rules." That seems to be what happened for the next few thousand years or so.

Suddenly, MIB looks up and sees Claudia standing in a pool of light. She says "It's alright, don't be afraid." Jacob turns to see what he's looking at and sees nothing. MIB is stunned and gets up and leaves Jacob, telling him that he'll meet him later.

Moments later in the jungle, MIB finds Claudia standing in a pool of light again. He asks her why Jacob couldn't see her and she tells him that it's because she's dead. She asks him to come with her so she can show him where he came from, which is a place across the island he has never seen.

MIB follows her across the island to a hill overlooking a village of people living in grass huts who are active performing various daily activities. MIB asks Claudia who they are and she tells him that they came to the island 13 years ago, the day before MIB was born. She says their ship wrecked here during a storm, and MIB asks what a ship is. She explains that it is something people use to get from one place to another and that his people came from across the sea. MIB objects, saying that's not true, since we saw earlier Mother told him that there was nothing across the sea.

Claudia reveals to him that she is his real mother and you can see anguish, but mostly anger come across MIB's face.

It's interesting that MIB, prior to becoming the smoke monster, is able to see the dead on the island. Is he like Hurley and can just see and talk to the dead or is it possible that Claudia is an earlier incarnation of the monster MIB later becomes? Either way, learning the truth about himself sets MIB on a path that he'll continue to follow for thousands of years.

Man (or boy) In Black finds Senet game on beach, convinces Jacob to play

As a young Man In Black walks along the beach, he discovers a game on the beach. The game is Senet is believed to be the oldest board game in the world, originating in ancient Egypt as far back as 3,100 B.C.

As he picks up the game, he looks out at the sea, or "Across the Sea." He goes and sits on a log and begins to set up the game with black and white stones. Young Jacob approaches him and asks what he has. MIB explains that it's a game that you play, and when Jacob asks how he knows how to play, MIB says "I just know."

MIB makes Jacob promise not to tell Mother about the game because he thinks she'll take it away. Jacob looks a the white piece and when MIB asks if he wants to play, Jacob says yes.

So this is certainly very similar to Locke's backgammon game in season 1. Senet is considered to be a precursor to backgammon. The game also gives us a general idea of when all of this is taking place. It would certainly seem to be sometime before the birth of Christ (B.C.), meaning that Jacob and MIB have been on the island for at least 2,000 years, if not quite a bit longer.

You'll also notice that one of the symbols on one of the squares is an ankh, the symbol we've seen a number of times, most notably this season when it was revealed that it was what was in the guitar case Hurley had been carrying.